Lab 1


Question: Compare and contrast a Sony Walkman with an Apple iPod, and describe the differences in their physical construction, interface design, technology and delivery of sound. Quick sketches are helpful for this analytical process.
CCT333_question_1_sony-walkman_vs_iPod.jpg


One of the major differences is the size and shape of the Sony Walkman and the Ipod. The Sony Walkman has thicker and bulky settings. There are external buttons that have specific settings such as play, stop, rewind, and fast-forward. The Ipod uses a touch screen wheel to navigate through the device. It has a slimmer design that allows users to store it in small compartments. There are small buttons located on the Ipod that are slim and not noticeable to the whole design. Furthermore the size of the headphones is different between the two. The headphones on the Sony Walkman sit external on the ear. The Ipod touch use small ear buds that are placed inside the ear.

The most common feature that these two have is that they both play music. The Sony Walkman requires you that purchase tapes in order to play music. While the Ipod requires the user to download music off of iTunes or rip music from a CD or an mp3; basically music in a digital format can be transferred to the Ipod. One big difference is the amount of music that can be stored. In the Sony Walkman, tapes can store about 20 songs while the Ipod can store over 100 songs. The songs are backed up on your computer but with the Sony Walkman if the tapes are lost, stolen or damaged then you are unable to recover the information. Both these devices deliver a noticeably different sound because of their analog and digital differences.

Music and videos can be stored under different categories in the Ipod.The Ipod has a coloured screen that enables the user to navigate through music libraries. The Sony Walkman does not have a digital indicator. The user has to fast forward or rewind in order to locate the song they want. In essence, this can be quite frustrating for the user because they can never get the tape to play on the correct spot.

Compared to the Sony Walkman the Ipod has more added features. Unlike the Sony Walkman, the Ipod can play videos, movies, and store pictures. It has features such as a calendar, FM tuner, alarm clock, different time zones, and games which do not exist in the Sony Walkman.The iPod takes a regular music device to new levels and tries to create a music player beyond the users expectations by providing more features than the Sony Walkman.